The daily living of adolescents with HIV/AIDS: Impersonality and tendency to fear

Abstract

This phenomenological investigation aimed to understand the therapeutic routine of adolescents with HIV/AIDS. Sixteen adolescents between 13 and 19 years of age, assisted by the health service and aware of their diagnosis were interviewed, between December of 2009 and May of 2010, in the University Hospital of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Their statements, which were analyzed in the light of Heidegger, revealed that the being-adolescent is presented as a being-with-in-the-world through the impersonality of the characteristics of adolescence and the occupation with activities of the daily living. In face of having HIV/AIDS, they fear that, besides their family, other people might learn about their disease, due to prejudice. This comprehensive perspective allowed the possibility of a nursing care based on an attentive approach to the pluralities and singularities in the daily living, and mediated by the dialogue with the being-adolescent and its family, in order to make this being the leading figure in its permanent care.